Autographic register.



No. 764,030. PATBNTED JULY 5', 1904.

R E. J. BARKER.

AUTOGRAPHIG REGISTER.

- APPLICATION FILED MAR. 18, 1904.

UNITED STATES Patented July 5, 1904. I

PATENT OFFICE.

ENGLAND J. BARKER, OF MORGAN PARK, ILLINOIS.

AUTOGRAPHIC REGISTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 764,030, dated July 5, 1904.

Application filed a c 16, 1904- To all whmn it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ENGLAND J. BARKER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Morgan Park, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Autographic Registers, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

Heretofore difiiculty has been experienced by the operators 'of autographic registers in gaging the extent of the piece of record-strip which it is, after the memoranda of the sale or transaction is recorded thereon, desired to pull out of the machine and tear off.

The object of my invention is to supply such a gage in such a simple and efficient manner that without requiring the expenditure of more time than is now required in the operation of the machine the length of the torn-ofi portion of the record-strip will be the same every time. This I accomplish by the means hereinafter fully described and as particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of the end of an autographic register from which the record-strip is withdrawn broken away from the remainder of the body of the same. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is a vertical section therethrough, taken on dotted line 3 3, Fig. 2, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows. Fig. 4 is a plan View similar to that shown in Fig. 2, but with the cutter-bar in its raised position.

All autographic registers of the type to which my improvements are applicable have a bed or flat top A, which afifords a background for the paper record-strips B when written upon andover which said strip is moved longitudinally beyond one end of the machine after the written record or memorandum has been made thereon and then torn off. The bed extends forward slightly beyond where the record-strips are thus torn off, and its end edge is recessed at (6, thus leaving two advanced extensions I) b on either side of it and affording the operator an opportunity to get his fingers beneath the end of the recordstrip as well as above it when he desires to pull said strip or a portion thereof out of the machine. The advance end edge of the Serial No. 198,523. (No model.)

record-strip is normally clamped down tightly upon the advanced extensions Z) 6 on either side of recess a by means of the cutting-blade C, which latter consists of a curved plate extending transversely across the end of the machine and has its ends turned down on each side of the machine a suitable distance and secured to the end of a suitable spring-returnable rock-shaft D. On one side of the machine this cutting-blade C is provided with a handle 0, by pressing down on which said blade can be lifted off of and release the end edge of the record-strip. The transverse shape of this cutting-blade is such that from the cutting edge thereof (that normally rests upon the extensions 6 6) it curves upward and backward over a cross-bar E, which bridges over the bed A from side to side of the machine, over the record-strip, and is engaged by a rectangular wing or plate F, secured to and projecting up from a spring-returnable transverse rock shaft d, journaled in .the side frames of the register below the bed, that clamps the paper strips upragainst the under side of said bar E and normally prevents the backward movement or'return of thepaper over the bed.

The record-strips B usually have more or less printing thereon and have transverse lines thereon or other indicia at each end to indicate the length of each memoranda unit; but in the registers of the type to which reference has hereinbefore been had it was impossible to see just how far it was necessary to pull the record-strip out of the register to permit it to be torn off at the proper point by the knife-edge of the cutting-blade. This I accomplish by cutting away the central portion of the rear edge of the cutting-blade to form a recess 6, which when plate C is down-that is, resting and pressing down upon platforms 6 b-exposes both sides of the central portion of bar E and when said cutting blade is raised exposing such a portion of the rear edge of bar E that the strip of record can be stopped at such point wherever desired or where a transverse line or equivalent indicia at or near the end of the memoranda unit will come under the rear edge of said bar. In addition to this guide for the eyebar E near each end and on either side of the recess a of the bed A is provided with corresponding forwardly-projecting shields f f, which reach out over the extensions 6 b and have their forward transverse straight edges terminate just to the rear of the normal position of the cutting edge of blade 0, so that when the latter is down they are hidden from View, but when said blade is up they indicate a transverse plane at which the strip of record being pulled from the register can be stopped when the transverse line or other indicia indicating the tearing-off point of the record-strip comes in alinement therewith. If desired, the words Stop here may be stamped or otherwise impressed on these shields.

What I claim as new is 1. An autographic register, comprising a suitable bed, a clamping-bar bridging over said bed near one end thereof, and a cutterblade the rear edge of which is cut away to expose a portion of said bar beneath it, and whose forward cutting edge normally bears down upon said bed between said bar and the forward end edge thereof.

2. An autographic register comprising a suitable bed, a clamping-bar bridging over said bed near one end thereof and having a forwardly-projecting shield, and a cutterblade normally bearing down upon said bed at a point just in front of the forward edge of said shield which it covers when down and exposes when up.

3. An autographic register, comprising a suitable bed, a clamping-bar bridging over said bed near one end thereof and having two forwardly-projecting shields, and a cutterblade normally bearing down upon said bed at a point just in front of the forward edge of said shields which it covers when down and exposes when up.

4. An autographic register comprising a suitable bed, a clamping-bar bridging over said bed near one end thereof and having a forwardly -projecting shield, and a cutterblade normally bearing down upon said bed at a point just in front of the forward edge of said shield which it covers when down and exposes when up, and which has its rear edge cut away to expose to view a portion of said clamping-bar.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 8th day of March, 1904.

ENGLAND J. BARKER.

Witnesses: FRANK D. THOMASON,

EDWIN K. LUNDY. 

